The 'Boda Clan

While Tim was gone, the kitchen had a couple of small things done to it and now only needs the backsplash installed (which is in my garage) and trim kits on the lights.  Oh, and a toekick vent cover.  Otherwise, kitchen is complete.  Yay!  Much thanks to my sister-in-law for the design of the kitchen.  I love it!
This is the dining room.  Isn't it obvious?  We do not have dining room furniture and to find a set that will seat 8 is difficult in our price range, so I made it into a much more needed TV room.  Now that we have a "new" couch in our Living Room, this hand-me-down couch from JP's college days has made to fill a nice spot in the room.  We do not have TV.  We have movies, Hulu and eventually, the wii, so this couch is perfect!
It has turned out to be one of my favorite rooms.
This monstrous TV has been in our bedroom since we moved in and believe you me, I am glad to have it, and the inevitable kids playing in our room, gone.  My room stays so much cleaner without all the toys lying around.  I do, however, miss the kids hanging out in there.  I guess I can't have it all.
I may have posted this room once before, but this space is where the piano will go once we drag it out of mom and dad's basement.
This is Tim's office where the piano will go, and as you can see, it is a touch cluttered.  I really want for him to have a real desk and not a table.  He does so much work here and he is cramped for space and I guess I just can't wait to hit the garage sales.  Or the thrift stores.  I should be able to find an executive looking desk that won't break the bank.  Right?

Last but not least is the "as done as it's going to get" picture of our bedroom.  This is the area to the right as you walk in our room and this is where the TV used to sit.  It would block my access to my closets, and I am glad for the expanse now.
This is the far left of our room...rather boring, I know, but until the other day, there was junk all over the dresser, still from the move in.  Mom helped me to just finish the space off, again, while Tim was away.  I wanted to surprise him with a clean, uncluttered, relaxing house.  A cluttered dresser does not make a calm house.  That is why I did not take a picture of his dresser.  I didn't get to that one yet.  It's NOT decluttered.
Finally, here is the bed and all...the only thing this room needs is for me to recover the bench at the end of the bed (I found a cream suede fabric that has cream stitched circles all over it at the thrift store.  I just can't find my upholstery staples), paint all the closet doors, put the vent cover back on and put trim kits on all the can lights.  I am so glad to have the room decluttered and becoming more like the retreat that I have always wanted it to be.  It really feels nice to retreat there at the end of the night, though anymore I don't really retreat...I get in that bed and am snoring in less than 5 minutes...isn't that right, Tim?

Did I ever think I would make it this many years with him?  NO.
Do I think I will make it another 5 years with him?  Who really knows.  I mean, we named him "Cain" for pete's sake.  What did we expect?  ;-)
Some days I just want to eat him up, he's so sweet.
Other days I just want to wring his little blonde-headed neck, he's so difficult. 

We got up and made some Cinnabon cinnamon muffins that tasted NOTHING like Cinnabon, but the kids liked them for sure.
They may not have tasted like Cinnabon, but they were still good...especially with all the drizzle.
Finger-licking good!
Lip-smacking delicious.
And they washed it down with a cup of Joey.  Kid coffee.  Hot chocolate.  You never stay at mema's house without it!
The snow plows did finally make their rounds, even though it wasn't even close to being done snowing yet.  Check out how high the snow is to the truck!  We had plenty of time to take pictures and check it out because in this picture, it's stuck.  It was spinning wheels long enough for us to really get worried about what was going to happen...then as quick as he was spinning, he was back to plowing. 
The snow piled pretty high on the back deck, as you can see here.  The drift in the corner ended up being well over 3 feet.
Levi was the first to go out and play in it...
...followed by Kevin.  Levi was the only one to pack his snow gear to take to mom's house, so I left to go get the rest of the kids' stuff and to plow our driveway. 


This is our driveway early Wednesday morning.  I took one pass with dad's snowblower and realized just how much work I would have to do.  
I even did the sidewalk for all those visitors we would get in this "blizzard."
This is a terrible picture, but the driveway snow was up to my knees.  Not that bad I say.
Poor mail box.  Poor mail lady.
Poor snowblower.
Treacherous driveway...but looking good.  Tim, you owe me.
I know that the beauty of the day gets lost in photographic translation, but these are my attempts to show you the scenery.
By the way, it is not foggy...



This is at mom's house again.  You could barely see to the lake at times.




The snow in mom and dad's driveway passed up my door...so that must have been over 2 feet I guess.
Dad had to snowblow the deck.  
Leave it to dad to break out the tape measure.  This is probably actual snow fall and doesn't account for any of the massive drifts.
This was while dad was snowblowing the deck.  Kinda funny!
Micah finally got dressed right, only with no snow pants.  I think all the other kids put on the wrong ones leaving her with none (Eden can't find hers...Micah has to pay).
They used mom's popcorn tubs as buckets or whatever in order to build a wall of some sort.
A scooter...not too sure what Levi was intending to do with it.  I think he was attempting to make a ramp and fully expected to go over it...in thick snow.  Whatever.
The scooter was short-lived and soon he realized he could find REALLY BIG snow chunks which was, by far, more interesting than ramping in the snow.
The mandatory "would you all just sit still long enough for me to get one good picture of you guys?" picture.
 Now one from the front.  Photography can be a full time job...

Elijah really wanted to dig a tunnel, but this is powdery snow.  It was not going to conform to anything he wanted it to do.  Poor guy.  Any time one of the kids would walk around it, part of it would cave in.
Funny girl poses for the camera...then pops up and says, "Can I see?" 
The tunnel.
Looks more like a cave for Kevin.
The boys found this huge ice chunk and it didn't matter what they could or could not do with it, they had to carry it somewhere.  So they did.
The kids got cold and one by one made their frozen way into the house.
Poor Elijah had swollen cheeks...you know the kind where it's actually white cheeks with the red outline?  Yeah, he was done!



 What?  Do I look like a deer caught in headlights or what?  Yes, so it is a flattering picture.  It was funny to me.  Can I help it?  It was stinkin' cold out there.  The heat was shocking.

We had a long day.  We had a full day and in the end we were all ready for bed...our own beds. 
Kevin wasn't the only tired one.  We went home that night and I couldn't get in the driveway again.  I had to shovel almost 5 inches out of the way so as not to pack it all down, causing ice.  (Our driveway is a "you better use the emergency brake" driveway and driving over and packing down the snow is not a smart idea, if Tim wants to be able to park.  His little 2 wheel drive can't make it otherwise.)  Needless to say, I was very tired by the time I got in the house.  I certainly was among the happy to find that there would be no school on Wednesday.  Time to sleep in for sure!!!